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Yep, you read that right – flours. You see, today is Improv Challenge Day, and our theme for February is Hearts and Flours. Isn’t Kristen all cute with her play on words there? So I thought I would whip up a batch of Grain Free Chobani Pear & Banana Baked Pancakes. The flour – almond flour. The hearts – well, I think you can see those quite plainly.

Gonna be honest with you, Valentine’s Day wasn’t all that special around these parts. The Hubby and I haven’t really made a big deal out of it in years, and prefer to reserve the bigger celebration for our anniversary – you know OUR special day, and a day not near any major holidays so restaurants aren’t overcrowded, understaffed, overpriced, and underwhelming. I also haven’t really been much into venturing into stores other than the necessary grocery shopping, and The Bug wasn’t feeling too crafty, so cards and gifts weren’t happening. The gestational diabetes has not really put me in the mood to make special treats (though I have spent the past few weeks drooling over those of my fellow bloggers – HELLO!), and I had recently made us a nice, fancy meal that I just didn’t have the energy to replicate or try to live up to. Luckily The Hubby was very understanding.

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I did have to grocery shop that morning, so I managed to pick up some things and throw together what turned out to be a pretty special and delicious dinner (I wish I had written what I did to marinate the London broil because it was incredible, but I will share with you the cauliflower side dish very soon). With one card from us, and Valentines from classmates and grandparents, we did get to sit and enjoy watching The Bug open his cards and a few small trinkets, and then devour part of a chocolate heart. And The Bug (aka The Hubby) got me a gift certificate for a pedicure. Which, really, I would be going for anyway even without a gift certificate, since I can’t reach my toes, and have a thing about people (yes, even doctors and nurses who couldn’t care less and are looking at a whole lot more important and less pretty parts of me than my toes) seeing my feet looking gnarly, but, you know, it’s the thought….

I actually made these Grain Free Chobani Pear & Banana Baked Pancakes over the weekend after Valentine’s Day, when I was feeling a bit more energetic and inspired. I am lying. I actually was quite zombie-esque. I had insomnia, and had been up since 3:30 am, so figured I’d make my boys something nice for breakfast. I had seen a similar recipe from Ann at The Fountain Avenue Kitchen, but she used plain yogurt, and I wanted to play around a little more with my samples of the new Chobani Pear and Banana flavors.

Melting the butter or coconut oil in the pan before adding the batter gives these pancakes the nice browned bottom (which you can see on the hearts that I flipped over) and slightly crispy edges (like you see on the wedges). The Hubby thought they had a texture similar to, but lighter than a cornbread. The flavor was light, with random bursts of fruit bits from the yogurt, and they weren’t too sweet, so you can adjust that to your own liking with powdered sugar or maple syrup. I’d love to try them with some other Chobani flavors, and even some mix-ins – nuts or chips would be sooo good.

The best thing is that you can mix them up in minutes, toss them into the oven, and simply slice them into wedges…

Or break out the cookie cutters to make them even more special…

Then feed the cut off little pieces and edges to your toddler, who doesn’t know the difference, since you cut his food into pieces anyway (no, I didn’t do that!). The leftovers reheat nicely, and check out next week’s What’s in the Lunchbox Wednesday and you’ll see what I did with some of them.

As I mentioned, this recipe is part of the Improv Challenge, which is a blog hop hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. A theme is given, which is two assigned ingredients. Then it is up to the participating bloggers to let the creative juices flow, and see what they can come up with. Then on the third Thursday of the month, we will all publish our new recipes based on the theme. This month’s theme –hearts & flours. If you are have a blog and would like to join us, click on the picture to the below to learn more. If you are new to my blog, finding me because you have been following the Improv Challenge, then WELCOME!

Annnd, big surprise… Pancakes?! Yep, totally Bug-approved!

Check out the links at the bottom of this post to more great Hearts & Flours Recipes! I can’t wait to see what everyone has come up with!

How was your Valentine’s Day? Was it full of hearts and flours, or, err, umm, flowers? Or was it just a regular day?

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Wowza. The use of Chobani for the flavoring is suddenly giving me ideas about what to do with some of the odder flavors, like Blood Orange. Not that banana and pear don’t sound wonderful, as they do! But inspiration and BAKED pancakes are always welcome.

Love your heart-shaped pear and banana baked pancakes! They’re the perfect for a quick breakfast. What a great idea for the Improv Challenge! Hope you have time to stop by and check out my heart-shaped gingerbread cookies.

mmmmmmmmm! I’m going to have to try your recipe with the yogurt. I mixed up an oven pancake last week with GF flours & they all sank to the bottom & left the eggy part on top — not the most appetizing breakfast dish! Thanks for the recipe!

My husband and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day either. We got engaged on February 11, so we celebrate “Engagement Day” instead. It means so much more to us that way. I do give my daughters little gifts and make heart-shaped meatloaves and pink mashed potatoes for dinner on Valentine’s Day, though.

Your pancakes are so cute and sound delicious. I have never made baked pancakes before. I definitely need to try them though as I am horrible at making regular pancakes!

Your recipe sounds so good. I have not had the Chobani pear or banana, but they are both going on my grocery list. The pancakes sound like they have a great texture, and I like how easy they sound! Great recipe!!